


Voices Rejecting Me, Voices Protecting Me

by Kara_Dreamer



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Non-Binary Chara, Non-Binary Frisk, Pacifist Frisk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-06-08 07:57:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6846079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kara_Dreamer/pseuds/Kara_Dreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is my attempt at developing a character arc for Chara as they might have developed under the influence of a pacifist Frisk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Village

They smiled as they beheld the ring of human faces that surrounded them: angry faces, screaming faces, faces twisted with rage, convulsed with fright, wet with tears.  _ «How hideous they are. All of them!» _ thought Chara to themselves as they stood amid the golden yellow blooms that grew in the center of St. Florian.

Another human face stared up at them from the bed of yellow flowers, a dead face, waxen, pale, but whose cheeks were still tinged with a hint of the ruddy glow that had illuminated them in life. King Asgore and Queen Toriel had done their best to array the dead body in some semblance of peaceful repose: washing it clean of saliva and vomitus, changing its soiled clothes, composing the face and limbs that only hours before had been racked with agonizing convulsions. It was Chara’s face. No, it had been Chara’s face.  _ «Just as hideous as the rest of them,» _ Chara thought. They rejected that human face now, the face that had been given to them against their will by the creatures who imagined themselves to be Chara’s mother and father.

Why, there the creatures stood now. The counterfeit mother was sprawled on the ground, blubbering about “her son”, with tears streaming from her eyes and snot dribbling from her nose.  _ «Disgusting,» _ thought Chara. The imitation father stood near at hand, trying his best to appear brave and menacing, clutching a pitchfork while huddling behind a small group of slightly braver humans who hurled curses and threats at Chara  _ (Asriel) _ while waving sickles and billhooks and flails. They were all shouting “Monster!” and “Demon!” and “Murderer!” Occasionally one of the humans would step toward them with a combative gesture of his weapon, only to shrink immediately back when Chara turned their glare upon him and pointed at him with their paw.

_ «How repulsively weak the humans are. The least of monsterkin has more courage than the stoutest of them.» _

The false mother was crawling towards them now, arms stretching out toward the dead corpse that had once been Chara, still wailing about her “boy”. Revulsion welled up in Chara’s soul. However little love they may have for the human shape lying discarded at their feet, it was still their old form, belonging to no one but themselves. This human woman had no claim on it, this woman creeping in the dirt and sobbing for a son who existed only in her mind.

Chara pointed to her and called her name. “Susanna Carter!” they intoned. The woman’s eyes bugged out and they screamed.  _ «You are wondering how I could have divined your name, are you not?» _ thought Chara with sour amusement.  _ «How little you know, human. How little all you humans know.» _ Yet despite her terror the human woman was still inching toward the bed of yellow flowers, still reaching out to touch the dead body.  _ «I will not permit it!» _ Chara opened their paw; a ball of orange-red flame kindled in the upraised palm.  _ «Your soul will do as well as any other, Susanna Carter. Do you remember when you beat me and called me the devil’s child for the mortal sin of befriending a spider?» _ Chara could see the glow of their fire reflected in the groveling woman’s eyes.  _ «Perhaps you were correct.» _

_ ⟨No!⟩ _ screamed a child’s voice.

Chara’s paw jerked aside even as it released its flame; the orange ball flew into the ground harmlessly two feet away from the woman’s head.

_ «Asriel! What are you doing?» _

_ ⟨Don’t kill her!⟩ _

_ «”Don’t kill her”? Why do you think we are here, Asriel?» _

The seconds were slipping away. The humans noted the monster’s hesitation and the attack that had gone wide, and a few of them began to edge closer, fearful looks giving way to wonder. Chara readied another bolt of orange fire, angrily gesturing toward their sham mother on the ground.

_ ⟨I won’t let you!⟩ _ Asriel shouted. A force seized their arm, wrenching it upward; the ball of flame flew skywards and vanished.

_ «Asriel, you fool! We agreed to this!» _

_ ⟨I’m not going to let you kill your mother! Look at her! She's distraught! She thinks we killed you!⟩ _

Chara-Asriel growled aloud, sending some of the humans reeling back in fear.  _ «Toriel is my mother! That...that human is not my mother! I want her dead!» _ In a rage they attempted to summon their Chaos Sabers. Heartwarmingly bloody fantasies went through their imagination of scything down the massed human bodies like wheat. But Chara’s commands to their monstrous body were going awry. They raised their arms in the air to summon their blades, but again Asriel usurped control, and their arms dropped back down to their sides.

The humans were fully alert now to the monster’s odd behavior. Their fear was ebbing, and the screams were giving way to murmurs and then to defiant shouts. One of the villagers—the blacksmith, Chara recalled, a great shaggy brute of a man with a violent temper—advanced close enough to take a swing at them with an iron bar. Chara strained themselves to the utmost to regain power over their body; they succeeded only in forcing themselves off-balance for a moment. They stumbled backward a pace as the end of the iron bar whistled through the air six inches from the end of their muzzle.

_ «Asriel, this is no game! Stop fighting me! We have a mission to carry out, do you not remember?» _

_ ⟨I remember,⟩ _ said the voice of the child. Infinite sadness pervaded it.  _ ⟨It was a lie, wasn’t it? I can see that now...you lied to me.⟩ _

Chara raged and strained and struggled but it was useless. They were helpless observers now in a body that refused to summon any weapons, refused to defend itself, refused even to move as the ring of loathsome human faces closed in on them. The soul of their little brother Asriel—trusting Asriel, soft-hearted Asriel, tearful Asriel, weak Asriel—was too strong for them.

_ «Asriel...where did you get this determination?» _ Chara demanded, but Asriel did not answer.

The blacksmith closed in for another blow, and struck home. Blinding light and pain exploded in the monster’s head as the iron bar cracked against the side of their head. They staggered but Asriel forced themselves back upright. The blade of a shovel smashed into their lower back. 

_ «Asriel, please,» _ Chara pleaded.  _ «While we still have time, please, I beg of you, give me back control of our body.» _ Asriel said nothing and Chara’s internal voice rose to a shriek.  _ «Asriel, they are going to kill us!» _

_ ⟨You were going to kill all of them,⟩ _ said the grief-stricken voice of Asriel.  _ ⟨I could see it in your mind just now. I saw your thoughts. You didn’t care about getting the souls. You didn’t care about saving the monsters.⟩ _ Asriel’s voice quavered.  _ ⟨You didn’t care about me at all, did you, Chara?⟩ _

_ «Of course I care about you! You’re my brother! Whom do you think I am doing this for? I swallowed poison for you!» _

_ ⟨You did it for yourself.⟩ _ The voice was so calm, so quiet, even as the humans’ blows rained down with increasing force. The tines of a pitchfork pierced them in the abdomen. The blade of a billhook sliced a deep gash into their chest. The handle of a rake splintered over their head. Chara was almost mad from the pain yet the voice of Asriel never changed.  _ ⟨You did it for revenge.⟩ _

_ «I  _ **_deserve_ ** _ revenge!» _ Chara screamed.  _ «Do you know how all these humans treated me? My “mother”, my “father”, all of these hateful villagers? How they beat me and starved me and told me that everything I believed, everything I loved, everything I  _ **_was_ ** _ , were lies from Hell?» _

_ ⟨No,⟩ _ said the mournful, childish voice.  _ ⟨You never told me. I would ask you where you came from, whether you had a mother and a father, but you never said. Why didn’t you tell me, Chara? I could have helped you.⟩ _

A bolt from a crossbow struck them in the side. The blacksmith’s iron bar crashed into their left leg. They stumbled and fell to their knees, face to face with Chara’s corpse. The waxen countenance stared up at them with its mockery of a restful smile.

_ «How could you have helped me! You...soft, pampered son of royalty...never knowing anything but comfort and peace and love your whole life. What could you possibly have done to help me?» _

_ ⟨Loved you,⟩ _ said the voice simply.  _ ⟨Even now, knowing how you deceived me, Chara...I still love you.⟩ _

_ «No...No, I won’t believe it...» _ Chara wept in their agony. They barely felt the blows any more, barely noticed as the blades pierced them and sliced away at their body. _ «If you love me so much, then why are you doing this to me...» _

Asriel forced their bleeding, ravaged body to move, forced their arms to gather up the dead body of Asriel’s brother. The humans gasped when they saw the monster regain their footing, standing still unbowed before them like La Pieta, Chara’s human corpse draped in their arms. For a few moments they ceased their attacks, giving Asriel enough time to gather what energy remained for a leap in the air. The humans scattered, screamed, dropped their weapons and fled.

_ ⟨Because I still think you're a good person, Chara…⟩ _ Asriel’s voice was weary, uncertain; his strength was rapidly failing.  _ ⟨You're not a murderer…I want to save you…⟩ _

_ «Save me,» _ Chara repeated bitterly. Everything was going grey. There was a blur of blue sky and brown landscape and a mountain looming up ahead of them, then all went dark. 

_ «Is this the end?» _

_ «Asriel…I loved you…I thought we were friends…» _

Then it was light again. Chara looked about them with failing eyesight. They saw King Asgore’s garden, green and growing, bright with colorful flowers. The King was there, the Queen at his side, both of them staring in shock. 

“Asriel!” cried Queen Toriel, stumbling toward her children’s broken body.

_ «Mom…» _

The world dissolved into smoke.


	2. Orphaned Source

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Officially declaring this piece an orphan. Sorry!

The first chapter of this piece was intended to be the start of a longer piece exploring an idea I conceived for developing pacifist Frisk that I have since abandoned: I had some idea of making them someone who experienced auditory hallucinations (“voices in the head”) and had learned various therapeutic ways of managing life with them. Then they “meet” Chara, whispering things to them, and slowly realise that they’re not just another hallucination but an actual person somehow communicating with them.

Furthermore, “Voices Protecting Me” was based on a mental model for the Chara-Asriel relationship that I didn’t put a lot of thought into and that doesn’t work for me any more. I may put some of  _ those  _ ideas into works following up on “More than Kin, Less than Kind”, where I’m using flashbacks to Chara’s and Asriel’s past to illuminate some of the problems that they’re forced to cope with now that they’re alive again and older. But it’s not too likely. Sorry, folks!

  
Monophylos, 27 Aug 2016


End file.
